The End of Sheep

I recently visited my sister in Denver, and we went to Fancy Tiger Crafts (and to Sweet Action, which is right across the street--yum!), where I bought some wool yarn and a discussion ensued.  Sarah is working on becoming a vegan.  A serious vegan, head to toe.  She is also one of the biggest fans of my knitting.  Not wanting to rock the boat, she hadn't expressed to me that she doesn't want to wear wool anymore until I flat out asked.  I will respect her wishes from here on out, but I have to admit that I'm struggling with some of them.  Sarah does not want to use wool because of two factors: animal treatment and animal death.

To the first point, we discussed how big industry wool is just as bad as factory farming for meat.  While I agree with her on this, I have not taken steps to eliminate that kind of wool from my use (I am a vegetarian, but I still wear leather shoes and use products with down filling). A vegan friend in Chicago and I once talked about a similar topic after she had purchased a down coat.  The truth for me is that I care more about how something was made (factory conditions, quality fabrics from plant and animal sources--not petroleum products) than how the animals are raised, when it comes to wool, leather, or down.When I buy wool yarn and yarn from other animal fibers, I like to buy local, from companies that are sourcing their wool from small operations and spun in family mills, or from companies that trace the origin of their yarns to the sheep that grew the wool, but I do not exclusively buy those yarns. I appreciate that more and more yarn companies and dyers are sourcing their wool in sustainable ways.

So I asked Sarah whether she would use yarn that was sheared, spun, dyed, and purchased locally, since those yarns are more likely to be gotten from sheep that were cared for and treated well.  The sticking point for Sarah, and this speaks to her second factor, is that she has no way to know how those animals die.  Are they killed for meat when they are no longer producing quality wool? Are they auctioned to inhumane businesses? If they live out their happy life, are they allowed to die naturally, euthanized, or slaughtered.

I have to admit that I never thought about the end of life of a sheep raised for wool. And it rankled me. I argued with my sister over things that we both believe in because I am bothered that I don't know the answer and I continue to purchase wool without knowing. All these "sustainable" yarn companies, and companies that put pictures of their sheep on the labels don't disclose how their animals die.  For one, it's too depressing to think about, and for two, it isn't important to most people.  For three, the way farm animals' lives are ended is fraught with political (and ethical) frustrations and problems.

I worry that Sarah is becoming extremist in her views, and I would like her to look a little closer at the human side of the story.  But I know that animals mean more to her than her own life, and I have to respect her choices, even when I think she hasn't seen all sides of the issue.  However, I need to learn more about both the treatment of sheep (and goats, and all the camelids) for my own interests. I argued with her quite vehemently about all of this, partly because my own beliefs were challenged and my ignorance exposed.  I'm glad Sarah is passionate and willing to debate with me, because I learned of holes in my own knowledge and can now explore this further.  I hope she wasn't too frustrated with me and gained some perspective, too.

We also discussed round ups and whether or not they are cruel (I tried using the vicuna as an example of an animal that is sheared in the wild), but we are not going to agree on that point.

To end, here's a picture of a work nearly finished, worked in linen and started before my recent debate.

Tytonidae Cowl, unfinished.

Adrift

I was catching up on some other blogs yesterday and many of them had apologies for not posting in a while.  I guess I'm not the only one who let February get away from her!

There has been a lot of soul searching happening around here.  I did have a revelation or two, and I took some time to express gratitude to people who have made my life a little easier.  I also got a part-time job to help with the bills.  This is completely a throw-away job (no offense to the people who work there for better reasons than mine) that may not cover all my expenses (only about half) but it gets me out of the house and interacting with people.  It's just what I needed.  Now I need something a little more meaningful.  Smiling while handing over the receipt for clothes that cost more than my weekly paycheck is getting depressing.  I don't think I ever thought about how poorly paid everyone in retail is.  Only the managers make a living wage, and I'm guessing that it's not a great salary either.  There are no holidays, and no holiday pay, at least for the part-time workers.  I only make about a dollar more than minimum wage, so the saying "at least you have a job" really gets under my skin.  Is it worth it to spend even four hours peddling something I can't afford?  I could be job hunting for something better during that time.  I feel really sorry for the people who work three of these kinds of jobs just to get by, especially because this is really a forgotten area of our economy.  We talk about how consumer confidence is up, but we don't really look at what cost to the worker.  I definitely appreciate anyone who is working part time in a low-wage job much more than I did before being that person myself.  The bright side for me is that I know that it won't last forever.  I am not stuck in this job.  It gives me what I need for now and I will move on when I have the chance.  I know there are many others for whom this is not the case.

Back to knitting.  I'm still following my no new yarn rule, but the last time I was able to buy yarn I bought for two projects.  I am trying to decide whether that's cheating or not.  Perhaps I'll make seven or ten things before the next purchase, to appease my self-imposed guilt.

Here are a couple of the latest FOs.

Made from leftovers from a cowl and some baby things.

More of the same leftovers, plus some other stash yarn.

Legwarmers for Sarah.  One of these days I'll mail them to her.  The pattern is Laced Legwarmers by Jenise Reid.

Speaking of Jenise, I won a copy of her new pattern book, Between the Trees!  It is beautiful.  I always joke that I'm not a winner, but this is the second thing I've won in the last six months (and about ten years, but who's counting?). 

Keeping Resolutions

I did pretty well on my resolution to knit five projects from stash yarn before buying new yarn.  Brian started complaining that he doesn't have a pair of slippers, which made me pretty annoyed since I've knit him two pairs, including thrummed bunny slippers, which are really warm.  He wears them all the time.  How dare he say he doesn't have any slippers. 

Turns out he meant slippers that he could wear outside, like when I ask him to take out the compost.  Oh.  So I knit nine projects from stash yarn (because I counted my December purchase of yarn as new yarn for the resolution), and then took Brian with me to Jimmy Beans to get yarn for a third pair of slippers.  I've knit this pattern before, and even though it's a bit fiddly, it is in worsted weight held double, so it goes fast.  In two days, I had slippers ready for some leather soles.  Alas, the soles I had don't fit Brian or the slippers.  I still hear about how Brian doesn't have any slippers to wear.  Still rankles me.

I've knit some fun things.  A present for my new favorite little guy.

 A bunny for a birthday girl.

A puff for a friend (the "for a friend" part came after I knit it and had no idea what to do with it.  It was fortuitous that this friend just happened to need a knit puff).

Some cowls.

Hats.

My favorite knit so far is my current project, Simple Sprinkle.  It is so fun!  I don't usually like to knit cowls flat, and I rarely knit scarves.  They just get so boring and repetitive.  I'm also not that crazy about knitting endless garter stitch.  But.  But!  This is so fun to knit.  I love the short-row sections the best.  I love that it's using up some bits of skeins that are too small to be useful.  You can't tell in the picture, but the yellow and blue striped section has three different blue yarns.  It's going to be a very squishy cowl when it's through.

Tallies

Along with lists, I like to tally.  Counting soothes me, gets me back into rhythm.  It's often why I lose track of my stitches.  If I'm supposed to knit three and then purl two, I will start off well enough, but then I'll fall into the rhythm of counting.  I speed past three to eight, ten, twelve, before I realize that I'm off the pattern.  So then I'll tink back, counting.

Since many bloggers are tallying their projects from 2012, I thought I would, too. 

I knit:
59 completed projects
2 frogged knits (plus quite a few that never made it into Ravelry)
2 projects that I knit sometimes (Beekeeper's Quilt and a secret project)

Breakdown:
16 cowls
13 adult hats
12 baby things (2 sweaters, 6 toys, 2 hats, 1 overalls, 1 bunting)
5 fingerless mitts
4 adult sweaters
2 pairs of slippers
2 shawls
2 headbands
1 bag
1 pair of mittens
1 steering wheel cover

I have also made one resolution for 2013.  I have decided that I will knit at least five projects using yarn from the stash before I can allow myself to purchase new yarn.  I will make an exception to this when we are traveling.  I like to buy something special from yarn stores in the places I visit.  I have 168 different yarns in my stash (some are partial skeins; some full, single skeins; and some multiple skeins).  I also have a grocery bag half-full of yarn that still needs to be cataloged.  I was thinking I would make it five balls of yarn and then I could buy more, but with all the partial skeins I have, that means I'd be allowed to buy yarn pretty quickly.  Since I ordered the yarn to join in the Downton Abbey knitalong, I'm going to count that as my first new yarn.  I've already knit four projects since the first of the year, so that means I have to knit six more from my stash before I can buy new yarn.  I'm on a bit of a bulky kick right now, which is very unusual for me, so new yarn could come soon.  I don't have a lot of bulky in the stash, so I think I'll challenge myself to emptying that bin, too.

Here are three of the four things I've completed so far (the third was mailed off before I remembered to take a picture of it).

My own design, using silk yarn without a label that I bought in East Lansing quite a few years ago.

Swirling Cowl, using left over Chalet by Classic Elite MountainTop.  So very, very soft.

Non-Felted Slippers, made with bits of Imperial Yarn Native Twist and some Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky

All three of those items used up yarn from other projects.  I was really happy with the purple cowl, so much so that I may even wear it myself.  The other cowl is a bit short, and a lot shorter than the pattern calls for, but the yarn is so squishy soft it won't matter.  It and the slippers took only a few hours to make because of the super bulky yarn. 

I knit a lot more in 2012 than I did in any previous year (mostly because I'm unemployed).  I plan on having a giveaway soon, so watch this space!

Lists

I am a list maker.  I make lists and sub-lists and sub-sub-lists.  I really only make to-do lists these days, but I also like to catalog things, which is why I love Ravelry.  I can list and catalog there.  Swoon.

My work lists (when I have a job) are numerous.  I have a top-level to-do list that outlines all the major tasks I could accomplish in the near future.  I don't keep long-term lists, by the way.  I'm strictly a short-term lister.  Then I have the middle-level to-do list that has smaller tasks that I should accomplish within the week.  Finally, I have a lower-level list that has three or four things I would like to accomplish that day.  Month, week, day.  I log everything I do each day (plus a phone log), and I save both the log and the to-do lists.  Then the next year I simply refer to what I was doing the same time of year and add those to my monthly list.  

On Ravelry, I currently have 1296 items queued.  These are things that I could knit someday.  There's a great feature in the advanced search that lets one "compare" projects.  So I star the things that I might want to knit next and then look only at those.  I wish there was one more layer (I seem to like three layers of listing) to pull out the things that I really want to knit and leave the things that I don't want to forget as near-future possibilities in the comparing section.  Sometimes I delete everything but the next possibilities and sometimes I just open them all in their own tabs.  I usually have my next project narrowed down to three or four before I settle on it.

18 of the 20+ projects with no homes

After moving to Reno, I found myself both bored and listless.  This lasted for a month or so until I started to make lists.  I realized there was a lot I could be doing, but I could never settle on anything.  Sometimes I couldn't think of anything to do.  Finally, I made a list.  The list had everything from "apply for a specific job" to "knit a hat" on it--both productive things and leisurely things.  These were all things I could do.  Then each day I made a list of three things I would like to do that day.  Since I'm not working a regular job, nothing on my list is ever that important, so if I didn't get to the laundry, it wasn't a big deal.  In fact, I still have a pair of shoes to clean that have been on and off the list since this summer.  This finally gave me some direction for my day.  I haven't been using the lists as often, but I don't feel listless anymore. 

So, in the spirit of lists, here is a catalog of the last few things I've knit.  I've also included a photo of April in the Essential Cardigan, but it's a bad picture from a dinner out at one of my favorite Reno restaurants, The Brewer's Cabinet.

April in the Essential Cardigan

Katy & Kevin cowl. It's a bit small.

 

Surplus Stripes

Surplus Hat (I used the striping method in the cowl pattern to make this hat)

Gaelic Warrior Hat